It wasn’t a game, it was an execution.

As one-sided as a lethal injection. The College of San Mateo football team’s 74-28 non-conference win over visiting Solano on Saturday was a classic case of men playing with boys. Seventy-four to 28? It wasn’t even that close; the Bulldogs (5-0), ranked No. 5 in the state, had two touchdowns nullified by penalties. Oh sure, Solano (2-2) went toe-to-toe with CSM in the early stages, tying the game at 14 with 8:30 left in the first quarter. Then the Bulldogs went on to score 49 unanswered.

Thanks for coming.

Ten minutes in, CSM was on pace to total 1,200 yards — no, this is not a misprint — of total offense. The Bulldogs settled for 540. They broke two program records, one for points scored — their previous high was 70 against De Anza in 2001 — and rushing yards, finishing with 421 on 57 carries.

Among the other highlights:

* The Bulldogs scored on seven of their nine first-half possessions.

* They didn’t punt until the 13:37 mark of the fourth quarter.

* Seventeen different players on offense touched the ball, and six of them scored touchdowns.

* Evyn Roman returned a kickoff 86-yards for a touchdown and a punt 56-yards for a score.

* It wasn’t just the offense that had a banner day; CSM’s defense produced five interceptions, as Hanson Sekona, Drew Ryan, Eric Merrida, Latu Moala and Warren Ziegler had one pick each.

When Solano coach Floyd Burnsed said earlier in the week to reporters that “after watching film of them (CSM), I kind of wish we didn’t have to play them,” one could’ve thought it was typical coach-speak, buttering up the opponent with false praise. Turns out Burnsed had a premonition, and the final result was worse than he could’ve ever imagined. It’s not as if the Falcons played terribly; CSM physically manhandled them and had superior size, speed and skill at every position.

“It’s really difficult because that (the records) is not something we were shooting for,” Bulldogs coach Larry Owens said. “I was caught in the middle of things because we got up so fast so easy. I guess it’s nice (for the team to play well), but (on the other hand) it’s not nice. I’ve been on the other end, and it’s no fun. I can’t ask the kids not to play hard.”

Especially after what Owens described as an “ugly” 34-21 win over West Valley last week. As a result of a number of mistakes and execution problems, there were wholesale changes made during the week, with eight different starters being plugged into Saturday’s game. Owens and the coaching staff felt they needed to send a message to their players because what they were preaching was falling on deaf ears.

“We know in a couple of weeks we got to be hitting on all cylinders,” Owens said. “The changes were a message that we weren’t going to accept some of the things that were happening. We weren’t practicing well and we opened up some spots for competition during practice. I think the guys met the challenge. I liked how they came out of the gate, and I thought they came out with better intensity. The question was, how could we get to these guys? We had to change.”

Roman’s 56-yard punt return put CSM ahead 54-14 with 3:29 left until halftime. The sophomore caught the ball near the right sideline and followed his blockers, who made a perfect wedge. He then juked two defenders in the open field before reaching the end zone. Roman, who also plays cornerback and was the team’s defensive MVP in 2004 before redshirting last year, immediately ran to his sideline, took his helmet off and sat on a bench before teammates mugged him in celebration.

“It was the first time ever (returning a kick for a score) and I was enjoying it,” he said. “The big thing we took out of this game was we needed to finish games, and that’s exactly what we did. I didn’t know about the record (Roman’s 86-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter set the team scoring mark) until after the game, so it was pretty sweet.”